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Monday, January 18, 2016

THIS is not a good sign for the PSUs. Union heavy industries minister Anant Geete recently said that out of 32 public sector undertakings (PSUs) under his ministry, 12 including Maharatna PSU Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) are running in losses.
"Out of 32 PSUs under my (heavy industries) ministry, 12 including BHEL were running in losses," the told reporters. He said BHEL will come out of the financial... distress in a year as it got orders worth Rs 28,000 crore this year.
The minister blamed the alleged coal scam under the previous UPA government for the ill-health of BHEL.
"After the coal scam came to light, it resulted into short supply of the fuel which hit the power generation sector in India. The coal scam came as a cropper and the new ventures in power didn't take place as expected," he alleged.
The minister, however, said that things are changing and condition of BHEL and 11 other PSUs will improve.
In a bid to improve the financial health of BHEL, Geete said the company was looking to manufacture equipment used in setting up of solar power plants.
BHEL is engaged in manufacturing turbines and other relevant equipment used in setting up of hydro and thermal power stations.
There are lot of PSU that have been incurring losses. The Cabinet Secretariat has asked the department of disinvestment (DoD) under the finance ministry to prepare a clear roadmap for over 42 loss-making central public sector undertakings (CPSEs) for disinvestment, revival or closure purposes. There are 65 loss-making CPSEs which have been identified over last several years. Of this list, the government has decided to shut down five CPSEs. There are 11 others which will stop getting the non-plan budgetary support from next financial year and may ultimately be closed.
Following instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Cabinet Secretariat has asked the department of disinvestment to chalk out a strategy of these loss-making CPSEs. Some of these CPSEs also fall in the category of ‘sick’ units.
As on March 31, 2014, profitable CPSEs had over Rs 2.63 lakh crore as ‘cash and bank balance’. The heavy industries and public enterprises minister Anant Geete chaired a meeting of 21 profitable CPSEs recently to discuss the strategy for reviving sick PSUs.